Pair charged with making straw donations to Trump committees
By JENNIFER PELTZ
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Two Chinese American businesspeople have been charged with funneling foreigners’ money into political donations that bought access to an exclusive dinner with then-President Donald Trump. Sherry Xue Li and Lianbo “Mike” Wang are being held without bail after a first appearance in a Brooklyn federal court. They weren’t asked to enter a plea, but Wang volunteered that he “did not do” what he’s accused of. They face federal conspiracy charges in what prosecutors portrayed as a complex scheme that swindled Chinese investors. Prosecutors didn’t allege any criminal wrongdoing by the Republican political action committees that accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from Li and Wang.
